


you can make the world stop

by tabris



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e22 Ho'opio (To Take Captive), M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 00:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4645350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabris/pseuds/tabris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny had assumed that after the events of the past twenty-four hours or so that he'd crash as soon as his head hit the pillow. Apparently his brain and his body are hating him in equal measure because he's been lying on Steve's couch for over an hour and is still wide awake.</p><p>Wide awake and bone-deep exhaustion are a truly shitty combination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you can make the world stop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MK_Yujji](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MK_Yujji/gifts).



Danny had assumed that after the events of the past twenty-four hours or so that he'd crash as soon as his head hit the pillow. Apparently his brain and his body are hating him in equal measure because he's been lying on Steve's couch for over an hour and is still wide awake.

Wide awake and bone-deep exhaustion are a truly shitty combination.

His heart aches for the Morrises, his knuckles are stinging and bruised from very nearly beating Ray Beckett to a pulp, and god, the tangle of emotion on Steve's face when he'd demanded Danny's badge before walking away for that one _still_ has Danny's stomach in knots.

He hadn't even argued when Steve had wordlessly driven them straight to his house and then shoved him towards the shower. And when he'd gotten out and put on the tee and sweats Steve had set out for him, he'd just given Steve a pointed glare in lieu of a rant about too-tall Marines, Navy, whatever, and their stupid clothes.

The silence had been somewhat strange, Danny had to admit, but it was comfortable. Steve had been equally lethargic, his touch lingering as he taped up Danny's split knuckles, Danny's hoarsely whispered "Thanks" too loud to his own ears.

Steve, the lucky bastard, who's been asleep practically since finishing up his own shower if the continuous, faint snore he always makes when he sleeps on his back is anything to go by. And the fact that this is a thing Danny knows about Steve is not something he's going to let himself dwell on too much right now because that way lies madness.

That way lies things he isn't sure how to deal with yet and emotions he _knows_ Steve isn't ready to face.

Punching his pillow doesn't help.

He tries counting sheep, but they somehow morph into Konos on surfboards which turn into Steves on surfboards and no, just no.

Another half hour passes with no success and Danny's desperate enough to face Steve's wrath for turning the TV on. He sounds dead to the world anyway so what harm could it possibly do?

_CALL NOW FOR YOUR CHANCE TO OWN THIS EXCITING N—_

Danny slams the power button so hard he fumbles the remote and has to scramble to retrieve it before he does, in fact, wake Steve, who'd apparently been listening to his television from the next island over the last time it was on, jesus christ on a cracker.

By the time his heart's resumed it's normal, non-Steve-induced-heart-attack pace, the quiet whuffing noises from upstairs have resumed. Danny throws the tangled blanket the rest of the way off and makes his way out to the lanai, looking sadly at Steve's last two beer bottles sitting empty and forlorn on the railing.

He leans beside them, staring out into the night. The sheer multitude of stars visible is still a little mind boggling, constellations he's never seen outside of a textbook stretching out across the darkness like glitter on the floor after a weekend with Grace.

Danny wonders if she's started learning about them yet, centuries old stories in the sky that have guided sailors for millennia. Maybe he can get Steve to show her, show them both. For that chance he wouldn't even mind learning the Hawaiian legends, too. He's sure Steve knows them.

After a few minutes he turns to head back inside and nearly has another heart attack upon seeing Steve in the doorway, his silhouette dark and menacing until he takes a step forward into the faint moonlight.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's fine," Steve says with a strangely deprecating shrug. "Footsteps, you know? After everything that's happened here…"

"Yeah. Still, you need sleep just as much as I do."

Steve's hand is warm where he wraps it around Danny's bicep, grounding, and Danny finds himself leaning into him without a thought, his forehead against Steve's chest and hands coming up to Steve's sides of their own volition.

"I can't stop thinking about them. About what if—"

"Don't do that to yourself, Danno," Steve interrupts before Danny can finish, palming Danny's nape and pulling him close as Danny silently shakes and tries desperately not to fall apart.

Minutes later, or maybe hours, Danny's not remotely sure any more, Steve pulls back far enough to smirk at him.

"Come on, let's turn that big head of yours off."

Danny glares wetly. "Brain. My big _brain_ is what you mean."

"Whatever you say, buddy," Steve says, a smile in his voice as he tugs Danny towards the couch.

He drops down into the corner and shoves the blanket over, then pulls Danny against his side. It reminds him of Halloween, but this time there's no Catherine, no Grace to make room for, no real reason to tuck himself under Steve's arm except that he _wants_ to.

There's so very much that Danny wants, yet after the day they've had he just needs this, to stay here with Steve warm and sleep-rumpled beside him. And so when Steve slouches against the arm of the couch Danny moves with him, sighing deeply in response to Steve's pleased rumble.

Danny's stubble catches on the soft cotton of Steve's t-shirt as he burrows closer, then goes lax when Steve cards his fingers through Danny's hair. The gentleness of it surprises Danny a little — not that he doesn't think Steve capable of tenderness, more that he's not used to being the one on the receiving end. He wouldn't give up their prickly antagonism for anything short of Grace, but this side of Steve might be what actually kills him.

Still, if he goes with Steve's strong, steady heartbeat under his cheek and something dangerously like a kiss on his crown then he'll be pretty satisfied. For now, though, he'll take sleep.


End file.
